Ed Jones scores 15 points on 5-for-7 shooting

Box Score
GREENSBORO, February 2, 2008 – The North Carolina A&T men’s basketball team struggled to score in the second half, but it seemed there was nothing Howard could do to penalize the Aggies for their offensive woes.

Instead the Aggies kept another opponent at a safe distance during a second half lull as they knocked off Howard 72-56 Saturday afternoon at Irvin-Corbett Court. The win was the Aggies sixth straight victory as they improved to 11-9 overall and 5-2 in the conference. The Aggies are on their longest winning streak since the 1996-97 season, and they are two games over .500 this late in the season for the first time since ‘96-97.

Steven Rush led the way with 24 points on 8-for-11 shooting, while Ed Jones and Austin Ewing had 16 points apiece.

“I would like for us to be more fluent and score consistently on the offensive end,’’ said Eaves. “But you have to deal with the cards you’re dealt that day. Even with the offensive slow down, we still scored 72 points. We did not give in. We continued to play good defense which made them have to score slowly. It made it difficult to make a quick run.”

For the third straight game, the Aggies built a sizeable lead in the first half, only to struggle offensively in the end the second half. The Aggies led by 18 against Winston-Salem State on Jan. 26, shot 32 percent in the second half, but still held off a Rams Rally.

Two nights later, the Aggies led S.C. State by 17 at the half, saw the Bulldogs cut their lead to four late in the game, but still won by five.

On Saturday, the Aggies went into the locker room up 15 on the Bison after a 3-point display that saw the Aggies hit 10 of their 14 first-half 3-pointers. The Aggies cooled off considerably in the second half, hitting just one field goal in the first 12 minutes of the second half. Strangely however, the Bison never got any closer than six.

So why are teams having such a hard time capitalizing on the Aggies offensive issues in the second half? Defense.

“I’m going to always play 12 from here on out,’’ said head coach Jerry Eaves. “Our strength is in our numbers. We’re going to keep running people at you to see if we can wear you down. Everyone knows this. I think our defense has been tremendous. I thought our pressure opened up the game. It got our guards open shots. As long as we’re pressuring the ball and getting up and down the court to where teams can’t post my smaller guards, we’re going to be fine.

“In the second half they slowed it down and went to their post power game. But thing is, if you don’t hit your free throws you score slowly. They missed the front ends of their one-and-ones quite a few times. I think that was key.”

Howard did cut the Aggies lead to 51-45 with 7:34 to play. The Aggies hit three straight free throws and Rush came down and connected on a three to put the Aggies back up by double figures at 57-45 with 5:43 to play. After a Jones free throw, Kandi Mukole hit a three for Howard to slice the lead to 10. But Jones answered with a three of his own from deep in the corner to give the Aggies a comfortable 61-48 lead with 4:15 remaining.

“In the last couple games I’ve been more comfortable taking the ball to the basket and shooting the shots I know I can hit,’’ said Jones. “Today everything fell in my lap. They were focusing on (Steven Rush) and (Austin Ewing), so I just took the open shots when they were given to me.”

Randy Hampton had 19 points and six boards for the Bison (5-16, 2-6). The Aggies will host Hampton University on Monday night at 9 in front of a national television audience on ESPNU. Hampton is 6-1 in conference play. An Aggies win on Monday coupled with a Morgan State loss to Delaware State could put the Aggies in a three-way tie for first place in the MEAC.